VAWA & Asylum Update

February 25, 2019

An update from our partners at the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors

Last week, Congress approved a spending bill that will fund the government through September 30, 2019, preventing another damaging government shutdown. Although the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was not reauthorized in the spending bill, a record $497.5 million was allocated for VAWA programs that protect and support survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, dating violence, and stalking. All provisions included in VAWA that are not related to grant funding, such as protections for immigrant survivors and tribal communities, do not require reauthorization and do not expire.

Advocates are working with Congress to reauthorize a strong VAWA that includes enhanced protections for survivors of gender-based violence, invests in violence prevention, and reduces barriers to accessing justice and safety. As coordinators of the Immigration Subcommittee of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (NTF), the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) has been working to ensure that there are no reductions in protections for immigrant survivors and that the needs of all survivors are addressed in the reauthorization of VAWA. Read the NTF statement here.

Along with appropriating more funding for VAWA programs, the spending bill has made changes to funding levels of other programs that will impact survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, especially survivors who are seeking asylum. Below, we summarize the implications of the spending bill on survivors seeking asylum and explore other Administration policies that further restrict access to asylum.

The
Impact of the Spending Bill on Asylum
The spending bill passed by Congress and
approved by the Administration on February 15 excludes several amendments that
had been a part of a funding bill approved by the House Appropriations
Committee last year. Previous amendments that had been recommended by advocates
to enhance support for survivors seeking safety in the U.S. included in earlier
versions of the spending bill were, unfortunately, left out of the final
version. Among these were increased funding for 60 additional agents for U visa
adjudications – visas for immigrant victims of crime, such as domestic and
sexual violence – to reduce the wait time for applicants to obtain work
authorization to six months, as well as defunding implementation of the Matter of A-B- decision.

The spending bill provides additional funding for immigration judges,
attorneys, and support staff to assist in reducing the backlog of immigration
cases, including asylum claims and VAWA related removal claims. There is also
new funding to hire Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to manage
and enroll asylum seekers in the family case management program, allowing
asylum seekers to reside in the community rather than in detention centers
while their cases are pending, as well as language in the spending bill that
prohibits the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using funds to destroy
records on sexual abuse allegations.

Although the spending
bill provides some modest support for asylum seekers, the increased funding for
immigration enforcement will harm the ability for survivors of gender-based
violence seeking asylum and other protections to access safety.
There is likely to be an increase in the number of Customs and Border Patrol
(CBP) officers by approximately 200 additional agents. The bill also expanded
funding for ICE and CBP, for more detention beds, and appropriated $1.375
billion for building physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In addition to the recent news about the federal spending bills, there have
been other policy developments impacting immigrant survivors seeking asylum in
the U.S. AIS believes
we must recommit ourselves as a nation that welcomes immigrants and offers
refuge to migrants fleeing violence instead of detaining them and their
children.

Court Upholds Right
for Survivors of Domestic Violence to Seek Asylum
Following the decision by the attorney general
in Matter of A-B- in
June 2018, the Administration released policies instructing asylum officers to
generally deny asylum to survivors of domestic violence and gang violence.
Twelve asylum seekers who had suffered severe physical and sexual abuse in
their home countries and been turned away for citing domestic and gang violence
during their credible fear interviews challenged these policies in the lawsuit Grace v. Whitaker. AIS
allies the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Gender and
Refugee Studies (CGRS) filed the lawsuit to protect the right of survivors to
seek safety and refuge in the U.S.

On December 19, 2018, a federal court determined that these policies denying
asylum to survivors of domestic violence and gang violence as whole categories
of people are unlawful and run counter to the purpose of our country’s
immigration laws to protect vulnerable immigrants fleeing persecution and
violence.

Since the Court ruling, the Administration has released new guidance
requiring asylum officers and immigration judges to provide a fair process for
asylum seekers in credible fear proceedings and clarifying that there is no
blanket rule against claims involving asylum seekers fleeing domestic violence
and gang violence.

Remain in Mexico
Policy Endangers Asylum Seekers and Immigrant Survivors
Recently, the Administration announced yet
another policy that specifically targets asylum seekers, attempting to make
them appear dangerous, even when they are not, and, instead, puts them in
harm’s way. This is the opposite approach we should be taking if we value our
international commitments to asylum seekers and the safety of immigrant
survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and trafficking.

DHS’s Migration Protection Protocols – which have been dubbed the Remain in
Mexico policy – were announced on January 24, 2019, and require asylum seekers
at the southern border to stay in Mexico while awaiting their immigration court
hearings. In effect,
the policy forces people seeking safety into dangerous environments.
It’s unclear how long these asylum seekers would have to remain in Mexico given
the current backlog in U.S. immigration courts has reached over 800,000 cases
and the recent government shutdown only added to these delays.

The Tahirih Justice Center, an AIS Co-Chair, filed a lawsuit on February 14,
challenging the policy. Tahirih is joined as plaintiffs in this lawsuit by Al
Otro Lado, Innovation Law Lab, the Central American Resource Center of Northern
California, Centro Legal de la Raza, and the University of San Francisco School
of Law Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic, and is represented in the
action by the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and CGRS.

The lawsuit argues that the U.S. is violating the Immigration and Nationality
Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, as well as the United States’ duty
under international human rights law not to return people to dangerous
conditions. “The right to asylum is enshrined in international law, and U.S.
domestic laws create a process that must be fair and available to all who seek
protection,” said Archi Pyati, Chief of Policy at Tahirih. “Our mission is to
uphold these obligations and support rule of law. The Remain in Mexico policy makes
that harder for us as an organization and violates our obligations as a
nation.” (Read more)

Vilma’s Story of
Detention, Separation, and Reunification
On May 10, 2018, Vilma and her 11-year old daughter, Yeisvi,
arrived in the U.S. from Guatemala. They were fleeing horrendous domestic
violence and hoping to find safety and seek asylum. Instead, they were immediately
separated from each other at the border because of the “zero-tolerance” policy
in effect. Because Yeisvi is a U.S. citizen and therefore could
not be detained, she was instead placed in foster care in Arizona, while her
mother was put in detention in Georgia, 2,000 miles away. The state of Arizona
began dependency proceedings against Vilma due to her detention, putting her at
risk of losing custody of her daughter permanently.

The Tahirih Justice Center, representing Vilma in her asylum
case, worked with AIS partners and other advocates around the country to
challenge ICE for refusing Vilma’s release. After months of intensive
campaigning and 246 days of separation, Vilma was finally released from
detention and reunited with Yeisvi on January 11, 2019. Vilma still has a long
road ahead as she pursues her asylum claim, but the victory of her reunification with her daughter is
an example of the fruits of a collaborative, comprehensive, and multi-pronged
effort.

Resources on Asylum
We have gathered resources to provide you with
additional information and background on the policies and legal changes
involving asylum and immigrant survivors.

Advocates submitted comments and developed talking points opposing the asylum ban that would
unlawfully block survivors of gender-based violence from receiving asylum if
they cross into the United States anywhere except at a point of entry.